Original Content podcast: ‘Altered Carbon’ is a murder mystery in a body-swapping future

Altered Carbon, released today by Netflix, is adapted from a science fiction novel by Richard K. Morgan. It tells the story of Takeshi Kovacs, a one-time rebel (played by Joel Kinnaman) who’s forced to take on the role of detective and track down a rich man’s murderer.

The twist: The murder victim is also Kovacs’ employer, because the series takes place in a future where human consciousness can be transferred between bodies.

In this week’s episode of TechCrunch’s Original Content podcast, Jordan Crook, Darrell Etherington and Anthony Ha offer their initial thoughts on the series, which livens up a familiar, Blade Runner-y setting with some big science fiction ideas — and it expects viewers to keep up without much explanation.